FAMILIES in County Durham and Darlington waiting to be reconnected to electricity supplies have been handed a lifeline just before Christmas after power was restored to the remaining properties, according to Northern Powergrid.
Up to 30 houses had been left without electric and heating since the start of December – with some communities waiting for as long as 13 days to be handed power.
However, those affected patches were given a vital boost earlier this morning after lights were switched back on, appliances were plugged back in, and heat returned to houses.
Read more: Northern Powergrid could compensate County Durham communities by Christmas
This included 20 houses between Crook and Roddymoor that had been without power since December 3, as well as an additional ten houses in Barmpton, near Darlington, that had been plunged into darkness on December 8.
The welcome news for each impacted resident comes after 240,000 houses in the North East and parts of North Yorkshire were left without electricity supplies, due to Storm Arwen and Storm Barra causing chaos across the region.
The two weather events, which happened at the end of last month and continued into the start of December, felled trees, knocked down electricity pylons and damaged houses and cars.
Northern Powergrid worked to restore electricity to affected properties in the aftermath of the storms, but the response of both the company and the government has been questioned, with a wide-ranging review being launched by Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week.
During Storm Arwen, communities like Coronation in Bishop Auckland, Stanley, Pelton Fell and parts of Weardale were connected last – which left some people in the lurch and without power supplies for 12 days.
It’s not known whether the houses that had been left powerless in Crook and Barmpton most recently was connected to Storms Arwen and Barra, or whether it was an unconnected power failure by the network.
Talk among residents in County Durham and the wider North East has turned to compensation, and the financial burden of having to cover food and hotel costs while their power was off.
Northern Powergrid has confirmed that for those without power for more than 48 hours, the compensation payment will be £70 after the first 48 hours and £70 for every 12 hours beyond that.
A spokesperson for the company said: “We understand how difficult the impact of Storm Arwen has been for our customers, which is why we took the decision to voluntarily pay over and above the regulated Guaranteed Standards cap of £700 to those people whose lives were significantly disrupted.
Northern Powergrid has also pledged to try and get most compensation claims processed before Christmas.
A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said: “Although incidents reported immediately after Storm Arwen may not have been directly related they were included in our restoration and recovery programme to ensure all customers received the same prioritisation.
“Those customers in Crook and Darlington which are still showing on the map have had their power restored.
"They are currently showing on the map as they are part of our recovery programme which means they are being switched from generator supply back to the region’s power network.
"We are taking action so that we can remove these from the map to prevent any confusion this may be causing.”
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